


After You

by coreasqueen



Category: Kim Go Eun - Fandom, Lee Min Ho - Fandom, 더 킹：영원의 군주 | The King: Eternal Monarch (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:14:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25824955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coreasqueen/pseuds/coreasqueen
Summary: I hope you enjoyed reading it! <333
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	After You

The morning sunlight shone across her face as I rolled up the blinds. The Gon that I have held for many years. The Gon that brought light into my life. The Gon that gave me three beautiful children. My life. 

“Hey... Wake up, my love.” With her, my voice changes into a tone I never thought I was ever capable of speaking into. With her, I become the most gentle person in the planet. Only with her. 

I pulled her porcelain wrinkled hand from under the comforter near my cheek as I rested my face on it but it didn't last long. 

She opened her eyes and grabbed her hand away from my hold. God, help me. 

“Who are you?! Where's my husband?! Why are you holding my hand?! Get away from me!”

She started showing early signs of dementia when we were in our late 50s. We thought it was just nothing, it wasn't. It just got so bad when we turned 60. 

Now we're in our early 80s, she just recognizes me once in three weeks. Sometimes, once in two months. The doctors are still baffled as to how she lived to see in her 80s because they told me the day she was diagnosed that she only has 10-15 years left to live. 

People told me to give her up in a home where she'd be taken care of. As if I would. I can take care of her better, thank you very much... even if she barely remembers me. 

I looked into her eyes and tried to look for the woman whom I have devoted myself to for the last 50 years.

_‘Are you there, my love?’_

“I said, who are you!”

I sighed deeply and kept my distance from the bed. 

“Your husband told me to keep an eye on you while he's away.” Her eyes are killing me. The eyes I fell in love with the first time I saw them are now the eyes that can't recognize the love I have for her. “He's just... getting you some flowers. You like flowers, right? The delphiniums?” Tears slowly pooled in my eyes as I tried to smile to make her feel less scared. 

“I like them?” Her eyes sparked with so much confusion.

I smiled as tears run down my wrinkled face. “Yes, you do.”

“Oh. Maybe, I do. Why are you crying?”

“I'm not.” I said as I wiped it away using the hem of my sleeves. “What do you want for breakfast?” I asked before she zones out and ask me the same question again.

“What's breakfast?”

“How does pancakes sound?”

“It sounds fluffy... Is it fluffy?” I laughed and despite the loud sound of my laughter, I could clearly hear the sound of my heart breaking into pieces.

“I'll get you pancakes, then.” I slowly got up from my chair and walked towards the door.

“Wait...” I turned to her. “Why do you look so familiar?” She asked. She just woke up but she already look so beautiful. The sight I've been waking up to since the day we got married, I wouldn't trade this for anything else. 

I gave her a sad smile. “You should go back to sleep. I'll wake you up when the food's ready. Okay?”

I was told not to make her remember anything by force and just let her memories naturally flow. 

I went downstairs to make some pancakes. Good times. We used to prepare it together every morning and she often scolds me for putting too much sugar in the mix even though she secretly loves it.

I was almost done plating the pancakes with strawberries and some flowers—just like how she likes it—when I heard something break upstairs. 

Despite my age, I ran as fast as I could and found a broken vase and a crying Kim Go-Eun on the floor. 

I rushed to her and held her face. “Hey... what's wrong?” I checked to see if she got hurt and when I saw that she wasn't harmed, I lifted her up to the bed and gathered all the broken glass with a thick cloth. 

I sat with her on the bed. She was breathing heavily and her bloodshot eyes looked up to mine.

“Love, where have you been?”

She recognizes me now. Finally. 

“Here...” I hugged her with so much longing. It's been past three months since she last remembered me... until now. “I've always been here, my love. I never left your side.” I said as I kissed her hair. 

“I remember you now. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Please, forgive me... I love you.” She says as she cries on my shoulder. Oh, baby. My precious Gon. 

“What are you talking about? You don't have to say sorry. We vowed to this. We swore in front of Him we'll be here for each other, in sickness and in health. Gon, my love for you isn't that fragile.” I said while boring my eyes into her. 

We shared a longing kiss. One where our hearts became one. 

I pulled away and leaned my forehead against hers. “You have to eat. You haven't eaten since yesterday.”

“Okay.”

I went back downstairs to get the food and hurried upstairs. I opened the door to find the bed empty. 

I looked around and found her on the balcony, basking in the sunlight. 

“Love?” I said, carefully, thinking she forgot about me. 

“Come here.” She said, overlooking the sea. 

I hugged her from the back and we watched the dolphins jumping above the water, having fun with the calm waves. 

“Today is a good day, don't you think?”Her long hair makes her look like a goddess, if she isn't one already. 

“It is. Do you wanna dance?”I asked as I took her hand and hug her from the front, the wind blowing across our face. 

She's humming to the song "Dancing Universe", a song we played on our wedding. It's the first song we both loved back when our love was just blossoming into something more. 

Just like that, we fell in love all over again. In our small forever, we were able to love each other tirelessly. 

We danced to our favorite song. We ate breakfast. I gave her a bath. We watered the flowers outside. We walked around as I read to her the poems I wrote for her back then when I was still courting her.

“I have a confession to make,

Not about my love,

Nor the way I still fall for you when you bat me those eyes, 

But the way you hold my whole being in your hands like a little dove...”

“Is that a new one?” She asked while she's painting a portrait of the ocean.

“Yeah, I wrote it while you slept last night.” She smiled, her gummy smile that literally outshines the sun. Today is indeed a good day. 

We did some cleaning and when we got tired, we watched the sunset with her head in my chest as I lay on the hammock chair. 

“Have I told you already?”

“What?”

“That if I die, I wanna be a butterfly.” She said as she stares at the butterflies hovering over her garden of tulips. 

“Why a butterfly, though?”

“They go through these stages of life, transforming from something weird into something weird, but beautiful.” 

“What?” I laughed and she bursts into laughing as she realized she didn't make sense, too. 

After a series of laughter, she said. “Anyway, I just want to be a butterfly. A blue one.”

"Well, if you wanna be a butterfly, I'd be a flower." Because even in our next life, our destiny is still written in the stars. 

I kissed the top of her head as we watched the sun drown in the ocean. We went back inside when it got cold and ate dinner. 

“What book do you want me to read to you?” I asked while wiping the water off my hands after washing the dishes. 

“Nothing, rather sing me to sleep. Please?” 

“I would love to.”

We went to bed, her body tucked inside my hug. I started singing "My Love By My Side" to her as she closes her eyes and rested her head just below my neck. This is what I've imagined when we both made a vow to each other of growing old together. 

I'll never find someone else to love after you. My Gon, my love. 

I wasn't able to finish the song because she fell asleep right away. She must have been exhausted after today. I'm exhausted, too, but happy. I must've done something great in my past life as the heavens bestowed me a gift and made her recognize me. 

I kissed her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, and lastly, her lips. I would never get enough of this. Everything about her is just so intoxicating. 

Morning came. She's still in my arms. Yesterday was a day to remember. She remembered me until the moment she slept. It was a miracle. 

I got out of bed and rolled up the blinds. I wonder what this day has in store for us. 

“Gon? Wake up, Gon...”

“Gon?”

Why... isn't she breathing anymore? 

“Gon! Wake up! My love, please wake up!” I cried my heart out. No wonder yesterday was too good to be true. How cruel. What a cruel gift, that was. 

I held her in my arms, so tight I thought she was gonna break. “Gon! Gon...” 

I wept for more than an hour. I laid her on the bed, nicely that if someone would see her, they'd think she's just sleeping soundly. 

I called my son. 

“Dad! My wife and I were just talking about visiting you guys later in the afternoon!”

“Please, call your sisters.”

“What? Why?”

I sighed. 

“Mommy's now one with the stars.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading it! <333


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